Second Time Rush
by imlivingproof
Summary: The TV show "Big Time Rush" has ended and the band itself disbanded. The guys still consider themselves best friends, even years later. The guys now have families of their own. When everyone's secrets begin to surface, the reactions aren't so great. They begin to tear the Big Time Rush family apart. Will everyone be able to fix this conflict, or will all hell break loose?
1. Chapter 1: Everyone

_Disclaimer: I do not own any Big Time Rush related ideas or characters, all non-fiction items are used fictionally, and all other characters and aspects are my own. :)_

* * *

Genny woke up at around 12:45 pm, confused as to why no one woke her up. She picked up her phone and was greeted to three text messages from her friends Bri, Lisa and Gabi, all saying that they couldn't wait to come over today. She glanced at the time once again and shot up.

Today, everyone was coming to their house for a small get together. She brought her hands to her face, knowing that people would be showing up at around two and she had just woken up. That gave her about an hour and 15 minutes to get ready. She climbed out of bed and headed out of the bedroom. She heard Kendall and their two sons in the living room and she proceeded to walk down the stairs. There was a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she was greeted by their daughter, Effy.

Effy had a wondering look on her face. Knowing that she was asking what time everyone was coming over, Genny said, "Everyone's coming over at 2. Your grandparents will be here soon, you should finish getting ready." Effy nodded and turned to get back into her room. Once the door is closed, Genny let out a sigh, wishing that her daughter would pick today to start talking again. She shook it off, then continued down the stairs. She turned into the living room, only to find her oldest son, Cameron, hanging onto Kendall's leg and her youngest son, Nathan, clinging onto Kendall's back.

"Oh, hey, look, your mother's awake," Kendall said. Cameron and Nathan's attention turned to Genny and they started yelling.

"Mom, it's almost one! Why did you just wake up?" Cameron asked. He raced over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Nathan did the same.

"You're always yelling at us for sleeping late," Nathan said. The two boys had more energy than Genny could handle. She loved her sons dearly, but their inability to sit still was sometimes hard to handle.

"Because I was awake until 5 in the morning, okay? When you're awake until 5 in the morning, then that's when I'll be okay with you sleeping in," Genny replied with a smile.

"Oh, so if we stay up until 5 in the morning tonight, we can sleep in late?" Cameron asked. He let go of his mother and grabbed his brother's arms. "Nathan! Let's stay up until 5!" Nathan let go as well as the two of them ran off.

"They'll never accomplish that," Genny said with a laugh. She turned to Kendall and she was greeted to open arms.

"Is it my turn?" he asked with a slight smile. She laughed a bit and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and he did the same and kissed her. "Afternoon, love." Just then, the sounds of two little boys running came into the play, and the couple was knocked over. They found themselves on the floor with Cameron and Nathan on top of them.

"Oh my goodness." Genny shook her head and laughed. "Guys, go get ready!" The two got off of their parents and made their way upstairs. "I can't with those two sometimes."

"No one can, just wait until they're teenagers and they hate you," Kendall said.

"I am dreading that time, so keep your mouth shut until then," Genny replied while elbowing him in the stomach. "What time are your parents coming?"

"They should be here soon."

"And you didn't wake me up sooner?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you!"

She shook her head. "I wouldn't have killed you, you know."

Kendall watched as his wife got up and made her way back upstairs. He laid down on the floor and the boys were at it again. They ran back into the living room, but this time their two dogs were following them. Kendall laughed at the sight of their one year old Samoyed, towering over their 3 year old Shih Tzu, and that was something he was never going to get tired of.

"Hey, is your sister getting ready?" Kendall asked as his two sons ran past him.

They both shrugged and yelled out her name.

Effy, upstairs, grabbed her phone when she heard her brothers calling out her name. She opened up a new text message and typed in, "Relax, I'm almost ready. I'll be down in a bit." She searched for her dad's number in her phone book and hit the send button. She looked in the mirror once more and scanning for any outfit imperfections. Satisfied, she took her phone and headed out of her bedroom door. Before heading down the stairs, she unlocked her phone and typed in a text message to her best friend, Conor. "What time are you coming?"

* * *

Conor grabbed his phone off of the couch when it alerted him of a new next message from Effy.

"Dad," he called out. "What time are we heading to Effy's?" He walked into the kitchen to find his dad reaching into the refrigerator for a water bottle. His two younger siblings, Jacqueline and Nicholas, were outside. They were about two years older than Effy's brother, Cameron.

"You know, it's technically not Effy's since Kendall and Genny were living there first," James replied. He grabbed the water bottle and closed the refrigerator. He turned around and looked at his son, who was rolling his eyes at his witty remark. "Relax, you know what I mean. We're leaving in a half hour. Is your mom ready?"

"I don't know," Conor replied. "And no, I will not go ask her if she is."

"All right then," James said. Conor walked back into the living room while he made his way up the stairs and into their bedroom. His wife, Brianna, was putting in her last earring. "Hey you, are you almost ready?"

She nodded. "Yup. Are Jackie and Nick ready? I told them to get ready, but I don't think they paid much attention to me."

"You're their mother, of course they listened to you. They're outside."

"Are we heading out soon?"

"Yup, half hour. You excited to see everyone tonight? Everyone's finally home at the same time. It's been a while since that last happened."

"Of course I am! What kind of question is that?"

"What do you girls talk about, anyway?"

"Life, work and how stupid you all are."

* * *

"Are you really still in bed?" Logan asked his almost-ten-year-old son, Damien, when he walked into his room. "You are almost 10, why are you sleeping in?" He walked over to the edge of his bed and grabbed Damien's ankles.

"Dad!" Damien yelled. He grabbed onto the edge of the bed, but failed as his father managed to drag him out of bed and throw him over his shoulder. "Dad! Put me DOWN!" He started flailing his arms and legs.

"Only if you plan on getting ready," Logan responded. "We have to leave in 20 minutes, you know." He set Damien down, who ran towards his dresser to pick out an outfit, and walked out of the room and into the hallway. Lisa was making her way down the stairs. "Mrs. Henderson!"

Lisa turned around when she was halfway down the stairs. "Yes, Mr. Henderson?"

"Is Dakota ready?"

"Of course," Lisa said with confidence. "She's downstairs already. You told me to ask her to get ready. The kids listen to me, remember?"

"Oh, okay, no need to get cocky," Logan replied while heading down the stairs to catch up with her. "I just woke Damien up. He should be ready in a bit."

"_Just_ woke him up?" Lisa asked with a eyebrow raised. "The kid should not be sleeping in this late at this age."

"See, this is why you and Genny are best friends. You are exactly like her."

"Excuse me, but _any_ parent would agree with us. You are too lenient." She shook her head and continued down the stairs, disappearing into the living room. Logan started heading down the stairs. "Tell him to hurry up!" Lisa called out.

"Damien, hurry up! We're leaving soon!"

"Dad! _Waaaaaaaaaaaaaait!_" Damien yelled back.

Logan shook his head and continued down the stairs. "Lisa, did Genny or Kendall say anything about Dylan being there today? Or showing up at all?" Dylan was Genny's step-cousin and one of his and Kendall's best friends.

"No," Lisa called out. "No, as in he's not going to be there today. He and Ashley aren't home this weekend. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, nothing. I just have a DVD to return to him."

* * *

Gabi was impatiently tapping her foot. She checked the time on her phone once more before crossing her arms. It was going on 2 PM. "Didn't I say we were leaving at 1:45?" Gabi called out to Carlos, who was upstairs still trying to get things in order. "Los, we're waiting on you!" Cole and Roy made their way down the stairs, their shoes untied. "You two are going to trip. Tie your shoes." Gabi was never bitter. She just didn't like being late.

"I can't find the car keys!" Carlos called out from the bedroom. Gabi turned around and saw the keys hanging perfectly on the key hanger they had in the foyer.

"Jesus Christ, Carlos," she muttered to herself. She bought her fingers up to her temples and started massaging them. "Did you check everywhere?" She called out while still staring straight at the car keys.

Carlos walked into the foyer. "I checked everywhere and I can't find…" he trailed off when realized his wife was staring dead straight at the car keys he was looking for. "Found them." He reached over and took them off of the hook. "All right, I'm stupid. Forgive me." She took her hands off of her temples and glared at him. "Stop looking at me like that."

"You would be so screwed if you didn't have me."

"Agreed," he said while kissing her on the cheek. "Okay, now it's let's go."

Everyone was at the Schmidt household. S'mores were happening outside and video games were being played in the living room. Music was blasting and it was a good time. It was always a good time when it came to this wolfpack, as Gabi referred to it as. Everything was perfect, but no one knew that it would come to an end just a few weeks later.


	2. Chapter 2: Kendall & Genny

The date was May 21st. It was Kendell and Genny's wedding anniversary. Tonight, the two were going out to dinner and Effy would be staying home and watching her two younger brothers. Genny was almost done getting ready when Kendall noticed that her phone was ringing. She was still in the bathroom trying to get her makeup done, so he picked up her phone and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number, but he answered anyway. "Hello?"

"Oh, hi, I must have the wrong number, sorry," the woman on the other line had said.

"If you're calling Genny, you have the correct number," he replied. "She's kind of busy at the moment."

"Oh, okay, can you tell her Lauren called? We met the other day," she said.

"Okay, I'll tell her you called," he said.

"Thanks! And Tyler says hi, too," she said. She hung up the phone. Kendall set down Genny's phone and went to write it down on the notepad on the nightstand on Genny's side. That's when it hit him and he dropped the pen before he started writing.

Tyler was Genny's ex-boyfriend. Normally, Genny talking to an ex-boyfriend wasn't a problem to Kendall. She only had two exes and she was still really good friends with one of them. However, Tyler wasn't the one she was friends with. Kendall remembered exactly why she didn't talk to him anymore and he remembered exactly what he did to her, and how he almost ruined for her.

"Kendall?" Genny called out from the bathroom. "Was that my phone?"

"Yeah, but it was a wrong number," he said. He turned around and faced the bathroom door. "Are you ready yet? Reservations are in 20 minutes."

"Yeah yeah," she said. She exited the bathroom and grabbed her wedges from the end of the bed. Kendall was debating whether or not to ask her about Tyler, but he decided not to, not tonight, anyway. It was their anniversary after all and he didn't want to ruin that.

A few days later.

While looking at her phone, Genny accidentally hit the wrong app and it brought her to her calls list. She saw a number she didn't recognized, hit it and it said the answered call took place right before she and Kendall went out to eat. She guessed it was the missed call he was referring to, but then a new text came, from the same number. She pulled it up.

"Hey!" the text read. "It's Lauren! I called the other day and your husband answered, said you were busy. Just wanted to say hello." She set down her phone and called out Kendall's name. She got up from the couch, left the living room and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. Kendall was sitting at the computer desk, surfing the web.

"'Sup?" he said when Genny entered the room. She crossed her arms. He looked at her, realizing something was wrong. "All right, what did I do?"

"Lauren called?"

He raised an eyebrow, at first not realizing who Lauren was, but it hit him only a few seconds later. "Oh, uh…"

"Why did you say it was a wrong number?"

"Because..." he trailed off on his response. He knew couldn't control who Genny spoke to, but he really didn't want her to have any type of communication with her ex.

"Because what?"

"Because Tyler." Genny rolled her eyes and left the room. Kendall got up from the computer chair and followed her out of the room and into the hallway. "Should I remind you of what he did to you?" Kendall said.

"What happened between me and Tyler happened a very long time ago, Kendall! I think it's time I forgive and forget."

"Forgive and forget?" Kendall thought his wife was going insane. Her relationship with Tyler wasn't a good one, and it didn't end well either. "I'm guessing you do want me to remind you what he did. Well, let's see…"

"Kendall, shut up," she said, getting aggravated. She was upset enough that Kendall lied to her over one little phone call. Now, she knew that he was going to go off on her about it.

"Well, first off, he tried using you to get his little shit band famous." He was listing the reasons why he didn't like Tyler back then and now, and why he didn't want her talking to him, even if what happened went down when she was 17, which was more than just a few years ago, before Kendall and Genny even started dating.

"Shut. Up."

"He, uh, cheated on you," he continued. Genny turned and headed towards the stairs. She didn't want to be reminded of what happened. She agreed, Tyler was an asshole for the things he did, but she hated holding grudges against people. Bumping into Tyler the other day wasn't a bad thing, or so she thought.

The farther Genny got, the louder Kendall's voice got. He continued listing his reasons. "He told you to jump off a bridge…" He followed in Genny's direction. She was now downstairs in the living room. "Excuse me, Genevieve, I am talking to you! It is rude to ignore!"

"Kendall, just… be quiet already! I don't care! I get it, you don't like him, you're upset, yadda yadda, all of that!"

"Talking back is rude, too. Well, let's see, any other reasons?" Kendall said in a mocking tone. "Oh, yeah, one more. _One. Huge. Fucking. Reason_."

She knew what he was referring to. She almost forgotten it had happened until he brought it up. "Please don't go there."

"You-"

"Don't!" Genny yelled, cutting him off, hoping that her husband wouldn't say it, but that did no use. He yelled it out anyway.

"Genny, you almost killed yourself because of him!"


	3. Chapter 3: Effy & Conor

Effy waited until the house was silent. It was going on midnight. Her brothers were both asleep and both of her parents were off doing their own thing. There were no chances of either of them checking on her.

She closed her bedroom door and made her way towards the bedroom window. She opened it and put her right foot out first. It touched the top of the ladder. Satisfied, she made her way down and was on the ground in a matter of seconds. Conor was about two houses down, waiting for her in his car. She raced over there, excited for what in store for the both of them tonight.

Conor greeted her with a smile. "Hey, Effy!" She didn't say anything, as always. She simply looked at Conor. She was still upset that she heard her parents fighting just a few hours before. She simply wanted to forget that she heard the yelling.

"Okay, you're upset, clearly, but that'll all go away in a little bit," Conor said. He started the car and they were off to a party.

Kendall woke up at around 3 in the morning. Unable to fall back asleep, he got up and left the room. To his surprise, the lights in Effy's room were still on. He knew she stayed up late, but he didn't think she'd still be awake this late, even if it was the weekend. He knocked on the door. "Effy?" No answer, of course. He shrugged and twisted the doorknob. Opening the door, he was greeted to her bedroom, but she was no where to be found.

"Effy?" he called out. "Effy, where are you?" He shook his head again, remembering that his daughter didn't speak. He thought that she had to be somewhere in the house. He walked over to the window to close it, but when he looked outside, he saw the ladder. "Are you fu-" Kendall stopped himself mid-phrase and went back to the bedroom. Genny was fast asleep. He felt bad waking her up, especially since they were both still upset at each other, but their daughter was not home and he had no idea where she could be. He lightly shook her shoulder a bit.

"What? You're going to wake me up to yell at me some more?" she asked in her why-are-you-waking-me-up voice. She looked at the time on the clock on her nightstand. "Kendall, it's 3 AM. Just..._ Why_?"

"You're off tomorrow," he said, reassuring her that she had nothing to worry about for being up this late. "Effy's not home. I think she snuck out."

"What makes you think that?"

"Her window open and the ladder outside."

"Well, shit," she said. She turned on the lamp on her nightstand. "Did you call her?"

"Do you really think she would answer?"

"Okay, no." She got out of bed and stood up. "Well, who could she be with?"

"The only person that comes to mind is Conor," Kendall said. "I'd hate to wake James and Brianna up and call them right now, though."

"Do it anyway," Genny said.

"Fine, fine." Kendall grabbed his phone off of his nightstand and pulled up James' number. While waiting for an answer, Genny went to go check Effy's room.

"Hey!" Brianna said. "James is asleep, saw that it was you calling. Why are you calling so late?"

"Is Conor home?" Kendall asked almost right away.

"Uh, I'm sure he is… Why?"

"Can you check? Effy snuck out and he's the only person I think she'd be with, to be honest. I don't know, maybe she's at your house... But you would know that right? Anyway, not trying to blame him for anything, I just want to know where my daughter is."

"It's not a problem, checking now." From the other line, Kendall heard Brianna knocking on Conor's door, opening it and finding out he wasn't home, either.

Unaware of what was going on at their homes, Conor was busy playing a game of truth with a friend and Effy was trying to get her team to win another game of beer pong. She was already far gone, but she wasn't going to give up without her team winning. They didn't know, and they had absolutely no idea, but upon returning home, both of them would be hung-over, their clothes would smell like cigarettes and weed, and their parents would be waiting for their arrival.


	4. Chapter 4: The Schmidts & Maslows

Kendall, James, Genny and Brianna stood in front of Effy and Conor. They were seated on the couch with their heads down. The two were clearly hung-over, and getting caught wasn't exactly the way they wanted to deal with it. The younger kids were all playing outside.

"You guys do know you reek of cigarettes and weed, right?" Kendall asked.

They both nodded, regretting sneaking out the previous night, and all of the other times.

"Figures you'd know what weed smells like," Genny said under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"How long has this been going on?" Brianna asked with her arms crossed.

"Conor," James said. His son looked up at him and was hesitant to answer. "Answer her, and don't lie."

"About a year…" Conor replied. His voice trailed off in shame. Effy turned to him and hit his side. "Eff, I can't lie to my parents."

"A year?" Kendall asked. "Effy, what? Why?" He turned to his daughter, waiting for a response. She shrugged. Kendall sighed, remembering that his daughter didn't speak. "Wait, Conor, you just got your license."

James stood up from the chair, walked over to his son and held out his right hand. "Car keys." He waited for his son to pull them out. "Now."

"Dad-"

"Don't say anything." Conor sighed and handed his car keys to his father. "You were sneaking out of the house and driving illegally. Conor, we can't just go out and do stupid things. Do you realize what would happen if people found out you were doing this? With Effy, especially! Were you the one who even convinced her to do this? Effy, of all people. I know she's your best friend, but really now? Just because Genny did these things when she was younger doesn't mean that Effy had to do the same."

"What?" Conor asked.

"James-" Genny said, trying to cut him off before he said anything else, but he was too upset with his son to hear her, or pay attention to the words he was saying.

"Yes. She wasn't the hardcore type who partied every weekend, but whenever she did, it was hardcore. _Extremely_ hardcore. She wasn't even 21 yet. She was your age, maybe older. You know, one time she got so drunk beyond belief. Seriously, she thought I was Kendall and hooked up with me-" He stopped, realizing what he just said. "Wait, shit."

"Gen…?" Kendall said while turning to his wife. "What is he referring to?"

Genny didn't remember hooking up with James, ever. She was never attracted to James in that way, either. She stared at James, confused, and she felt all eyes on her. "I don't know what he's talking about."

"Really? Are you sure?" Kendall said, while throw his arms up into the air, pacing the living room. "First you saw _that guy_-"

"Kendall!" Genny yelled. No one else knew about that, and she didn't want anyone else knowing for the time being.

"Do you have anymore secrets?"

"I swear on my life I have no idea what he's talking about!"

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to say that," James said. "It was before Brianna and I started dating. We went to a friend's a party and since Lisa wasn't home, I stayed at their place to make sure she would be fine, you know? Gen, you don't remember any of it."

"But you went along with it? You didn't even try to stop her?" Kendall asked.

James was quite. He never admitted that he had feelings for Genny, as he thought it felt wrong since Kendall was and still is one of his best friend.

"When was this party?"

"It was right before we left for that world tour. You guys were kind of in a break up, anyway…"

"You mean, right before she left to study abroad?" Kendall yelled. "You can't do that! Just because we were fighting at the time doesn't mean we were 'kind of in a break up.'" He then turned to Genny and point a finger towards her. "And you…"

"Don't yell at me," Genny said. "Just… don't." She started to massage her temples, as she was one to get headaches in bad situations.

He put his arm down and turned to Effy. "You could forget about getting that car for your birthday."

"Kendall, she didn't ask for a car… That was supposed to be a surprise." Genny said.

"Shit. Well, don't expect to see one in the driveway when you wake up August 23rd," Kendall said.

Effy wasn't even paying attention to the whole car thing. She had one thing on her mind, and it was her mom. Her mom used to party? She thought about it for a moment, thinking that it was possible, but then the guy subject came into play. Who was he? She thought to herself. Is this what they were fighting about last night? Her parents and two of their best friends were all arguing in front of her. She didn't know what to do. She turned to Conor, who was turned the other way. She felt like all of this was her fault. It was her fault for leaving the ladder visible when she climbed out of the house last night.

"Mom, what guy?" she finally said. Everyone stopped talking and turned to Effy. "Who is he?" Effy said. No one answered her. The room was silent. Everyone was surprised that Effy even said anything. It had been almost three years since she last spoke and no one thought they would ever hear her voice again. "Mom." Tears started forming. She wanted answers. If her mom was trouble, she wanted to know.

"Don't worry about it, Eff. We can talk about that later," Genny finally said.

"Guys, can you leave the room for a moment?" Kendall asked Conor and Effy. They nodded, leaving the room. They headed upstairs into Effy's room and the four of them waited patiently to hear music start playing before they started their conversation. "James, how far did this go?"

"How far did what go?" James asked, trying to avoid the subject.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Clearly, Genny was too drunk to remember any of this, so she can't answer that question."

"Well…" he paused. He wanted to avoid answering the question so much. The entire situation was making him sick to his stomach. It was almost 20 years ago, and coming clean about it now and like this wasn't an ideal way.

"James," Brianna said while crossing his arms. "I promise I won't get mad."

"I don't even know what the fuck is going on anymore," Genny said, while shaking her head. "James, how far did we take it?"

He sighed, bracing himself for what this would lead to. He looked up at his wife, best friend and a good friend of his. "We _almost_..."

"James," Kendall cut him off. "Stop right there. I don't want to hear the rest. You didn't stop her?" Kendall asked, his voice getting louder.

"I kind of liked her… What the hell did you expect me to do?"

The room grew silent.


	5. Chapter 5: Logan & Genny

It was going on 2 AM and Genny hadn't gotten any sleep that night. The whole thing with Conor and Effy went down a few nights ago, but for whatever reason, she was harping on it tonight. She didn't remember any of the things James said, but he claimed that she was too far gone to even remember the next morning.

Then came in the guilt of her not telling Kendall that she bumped into Tyler. At the time, she didn't think it really mattered. She was still close friends with one of her exes, she thought maybe it was time to finally forgive Tyler for what went down. What happened between her and Tyler happened years ago, and at this point she was obviously passed it. Seeing as why Kendall was upset about it, though, she started to wonder if she should have even given Tyler's wife her number.

This was something she never thought would happen. She never thought her teenage years would come back to haunt her. She barely remember the parties she shouldn't have attended and she remembered Tyler perfectly well. Now she was realizing why Kendall was over-reacting, and she figured it would be best if she didn't talk to Tyler for the sake of her sanity, and Kendall's. She sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

Kendall was asleep to her right. She didn't understand how he could sleep through any of this. She turned and faced the wall. She needed someone to talk to about this. All of it. She didn't want to talk to Kendall for obvious reasons.

Logan.

She grabbed her phone off her nightstand and opened a new text message. "Cancel whatever plans you have, we're going out to lunch. 1 PM. The Grove. I need to talk to you." She hit the send button and didn't care how blunt she was being. This was serious.

The next day.

"Where are you off to, Mr. Henderson?" Lisa asked when she noticed that he was getting ready. "You're looking all spiffy. I hope you're not cheating on me with some other girl."

"Relax," he said with a laugh. "I'm just going out to lunch with Genny. I don't know, she wanted to talk to me about something."

"What?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. Don't expect me to tell you though," he replied. "I love you, you're my wife, but sometimes I have to keep other people's secrets."

"Understandable," she said. "She'll probably tell me, anyway. May not be right away, but she'll definitely tell me. She tells me everything."

"Okay, Mrs. Henderson," he said. "Never said she wouldn't tell you. I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" He walked over and gave her a kiss before leaving.

When he arrived at the Grove, he found Genny already at a table at the French Crepe Company. "Hey you!" he said as he approached the table. "Everything all right?" He took a seat in the chair across from her.

"I don't know," she said with a frown.

"Whoa, whoa, why the sad face?" he asked. Logan hated seeing Genny upset. He hated seeing anyone upset, really, but it always bothered him the most whenever Lisa or Genny were upset.

"A lot went down the past few days and I'm not really sure how to deal with all of it."

"Okay, well shoot. I'm all ears."

"Promise me you won't get mad at the first part, though," she said. She knew Logan remembered the whole deal with Tyler, and she knew he didn't want her talking to him, either, but she thought he was more understanding.

"Promise!"

"Okay." She took a deep breath and let it out. Logan was always someone she could confide with, so telling him things wasn't hard. "I bumped into Tyler and-"

"WHOA!" he almost yelled. "Tyler? _The_ Tyler? The Tyler who I hate, who Kendall _especially_ hates, who Lisa hates, who you _hate_-hated?" He wasn't sure how to phrase that last one.

"You said you wouldn't get mad…"

"Okay, okay," he said, taking a deep breath. He, too, hated Tyler with a burning passion. "Well, I'm assuming that Kendall found out and got upset over that?"

"Yes," she replied. "His wife called-Tyler's, I mean. He answered my phone, said I was busy and he told me it was a wrong number. I ended up finding out that I wasn't so, I got upset over that."

"Ah, so it escalated!" Logan said enthusiastically. "Bravo. Continue."

"I confronted him about it, so of course he was being defensive and started listing what went down in my teenage years with that kid." She folded her hands in front of her on the table and sat forward in her chair. "I mean…" She let out a sigh. "I get it, he was upset. Why wouldn't he be? It was years ago, though. I'm still alive, I'm happy and I'm sure Tyler's… having fun with whatever he's doing with his life."

Logan sat forward in his chair. "Genny, it's Kendall. Of course he's going to be upset about it. If only you saw his reaction when he found out about… that incident." He remembered that night perfectly. He remembered an upset and raged Kendall when he got the news that she was in the hospital. He was frantically trying to get everyone where they needed to be so they could leave and he could get to where she was. Logan had never seen his best friend in such a state, and it freaked him out a lot. They were on their tour that year and they were heading down to New York from Boston. "All right," Logan continued. "I'm assuming that was part one. What's part two?"

Genny started explaining to Logan what went down the just a few days ago. From catching Effy and Conor, to the whole James incident.

"_Jaaaaaaaaaaaames_, doesn't try, but still attracts the _baaaaaaaaaaaaabes_…" Logan sang.

"Logan."

"All right, I'm sorry. It was a catchy song, all right? I'm sure it'll all blow over, right? I mean, no one else has said anything about it. You said this was a few days ago. By now, someone else should've said something to me, Lisa, Carlos or Gabi by now. And Effy and Conor are teenagers. May I remind you that you did those things, as well?"

"Or, you know, everyone is so damn secretive. I just don't want any of this to cause conflict, you know? I haven't spoken to James or Brianna since the incident. And I know that, but I never got caught, remember?"

"That is true. Well, you should talk to them, if you really want to. It'll blow over soon enough," Logan said. "But James. Seriously? He liked you when you were already dating someone, who is one of his best friends? Oh man. What would've happened if he told you back then?"

"That's what I'm saying. I was actually pretty confused when he said that," Genny responded. "It's James! James is just… James. It's weird. I don't know. Considering it was a really long time ago and just hearing about it now, I don't know what to say about it. I'd probably say no to him, you know? He's always been a bro and I love him, but I don't see him that way, and I never did."

He picked up the menu in front of him. "Well, forget about it for now. I'm hungry and crepes sound delish right about now."

After eating lunch, the two said their goodbyes and went off to finish whatever they had to do for the day. One his way home, though, Logan couldn't help but think over what Genny had told him. Secrets were told and it caused a minor uproar, and could end up being a major uproar. He couldn't help but wonder, what secrets did everyone else have, and what effect would they have on everyone if they were revealed?


	6. Chapter 6: Gabi, Genny & Nathan

Gabi was over at the Schmidts place. However, Kendall, Effy and Cameron all weren't home. Kendall and Effy went out to lunch and Cameron tagged along. Nathan felt the need to stay home and keep his mother company. The 7 year old was sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen island while Genny sat next to him and Gabi on the other side of him.

"So what do you want to do today, Nathan?" Gabi asked Nathan, who was swinging his legs back and forth, accidentally kicking the island a few times.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. The lisp was making it apparent that the boy was missing his two front teeth. "Where's Cole and Roy?"

"At home with their father," Gabi said.

"How cute, father son bonding," Genny said with a laugh. "Are you down to bake cupcakes, brownies, whatever? I swear, I always get the biggest sweet tooth whenever we hang out."

"It's been happening since we were in middle school," Gabi replied. "It ain't going to stop any time soon. Well, we have time and we're not exactly doing anything. I don't see why we can't. I mean, unless you want to talk about what you were telling me on the phone yesterday."

"Let's not."

"All right then. Nathan, what would you like?

"I want cheesecake!" he said with excitement.

"See, this is why he is your child," Gabi said. Cheesecake was Genny's favorite desert. Gabi, on the other hand, wasn't a fan. "I still can't get passed the fact that it's cream cheese. What else do you want? We don't have time to make cheesecake."

He frowned, but started thinking about his choices. "I want a cake! Birthday cake! Can we pretend it's my birthday, Mommy? Please?"

"All right," Genny said in agreement. "What kind of cake would you like?"

"Do not say cheesecake," Gabi said.

"Funfetti!" Nathan smiled. He hopped off of the stool and raced the pantry to get the box and icing. Genny and Gabi shot a look at each other, because they agreed. You could never go wrong with Funfetti. They started getting everything read for baking and he set, or almost threw, rather, the cake mix and icing on the island. "Mom, I have a question!" he said while running up to his mom. He stopped short next to her, almost falling over.

"What is it?" Genny responded, while grabbing her son so he wouldn't loose his balance.

"Why is Dad the only one with green eyes?"

"Oh dear…" Genny said, while bringing her palm up to her forehead. Gabi started laughing. The question was completely random, and it simply reminded them both of the time they took Biology together, and it reminded Genny of her AP Biology days. It wasn't that the classes were horrible, their teachers just made it a horrible learning experience.

"Why is Dad the only one with blonde hair?" Nathan continued. "I don't get it. And your hair is sometimes black, then it's sometimes brown, and then Effy's hair is red. How is it red, Mommy? And her eyes! Sometimes they're blue, and then they're purple-no one has purple eyes, and then they're back to brown…"

Gabi continued laughing. Of course, she found it adorable, but she found it more hilarious because of the whole Mendel experimensa in science. She knew Genny was one to over analyze and wouldn't simply say, "Because you get your looks from both of us, and brown and hair eyes show up more." Genny would actually sit her son down and explain the whole science behind it. Then, she'd go on to explain how she's Filipina and Kendall's a mix of caucasian ethnicities. And then there was the whole hair-dying and colored contacts situation. This was something Nathan wouldn't understand at this age.

"Why are... is... _are_ Dad and Uncle James so much taller than you?"

Gabi stopped laughing, though she wanted to continue. Gabi and Genny were the same height and Kendall and James both had well over a foot over them. "Oh my goodness, this is my child…" Genny muttered to herself. She started laughing, finding this all to be ridiculous. Nathan was only seven years old, after all.

"You're like six feet tall!" Nathan said, holding his arms above him, trying to make it look like he was her height. "Dad and Uncle James are like 12 feet tall!"

"And how tall does that make you?" Genny asked with a smile.

"I don't know, five?" he shrugged.

Genny and Gabi looked at each other and started laughing again. "Nathan, I am not six feet tall! Your dad and James are not 12 feet tall, either. And you, sir, are not five feet tall," Genny said.

"Then what am I?"

"You, sir, are just under four feet tall, and you are making me feel shorter and shorter every time you grow an inch," Genny replied. "This will all make sense when you are older, all right?"

"Do I really have to wait?" he gave his mother and Gabi a sad puppy face.

"Hey, little man, if we were to explain it to you now, you would be confused," Gabi said. Nathan shrugged and went to go grab a mixing bowl. She turned to Genny. "And, tomorrow he'd probably forget. Explaining to your children about different and mixed ethnicities. AMERICA!" Gabi saluted. "But really, remember Biology in 8th grade?"

"I do not even want to think about that," Genny said with a laugh. "Oh man… That class… That_ teacher_!" She shook her head. "Now come on, let's make this before Nathan throws a fit and before everyone gets home. I want them to have dessert to come home to."

"Genny, it's only lunch time.'

"So? Lunch is a bigger meal everywhere but the United States, really," Genny said. She would know, and so would Gabi. It was pounded into their brains the entire time they took French in middle and high school. "And like I said, I have a sweet tooth. Everyone else in this house has a sweet tooth, _aussi_."

"_Alors_, even Kendall with his whole 'eating organic' ordeal?"

"_Oui_, even Kendall. Now, come on!" Genny went to go grab the other necessary ingredients and other while Gabi opened the box of cake mix.

_Author's Note: ERMAHGERD CERPCERKS!_


	7. Chapter 7: Brianna

Brianna wasn't only harping on what went down with Conor and James the other day, she was harping on anything and everything. Today, she was considering calling into work sick, even though she was perfectly fine, but she figured that since Genny was also working today, she could talk to her about everything. She had been thinking about a lot lately and she needed to hear someone else's opinion.

It hit 12:30 PM and she decided to head over to the A&R department chairperson's office, and that's where she found Genny. She was at her desk, doing absolutely nothing.

"You should really move your stuff near here, or in here," Genny said as Brianna walked in. "I get so bored sometimes."

"I probably should, shouldn't I?" Brianna said. She pulled over a chair next to Genny and sat down next to her. "So, what's the deal with Effy right now?"

"Nothing really, actually," Genny replied. "We're just keeping a close eye on her. She hasn't really asked to go out, either, so there aren't any rules on that, yet. What about Conor?"

"Same. But you know, James took his car away from him, so we're stuck driving him around to where ever he needs to be." Brianna was a bit hesitant to continue. She still found it to be awkward after what they found out the other night. Genny, however, beat her to the subject. "Look, Bri, I'm sorry about the whole James thing…" Genny started.

"Don't be!" Brianna said, cutting Genny off. "You were drunk-ha, you were drunk." She laughed, remembering the drunk texts and phone calls she used to receive from Genny during that time. After receiving a glare from Genny, she collected her thoughts and got back on topic. "Okay, sorry. You don't even remember it. And… Okay, he had feelings for you, but that was forever ago and before I was even dating him. That's not what I wanted to talk about, though, Genny. I've been thinking about something a lot lately, and this just kind of pushed me to the edge."

"Well, what is it? I'm all ears."

"I've…" Brianna hated to admit it, but it was true. "I've been thinking. Maybe James and I should end it."

Genny turned her head sharply to Brianna. "Bri… What? If it's because of what he said the other night-"

"It's not because of that. I'm not sure yet," she said. "I don't know, all right? It's weird, I don't know how to explain it. It's not that I don't love him. I love him a lot."

Genny turned her computer chair so that she was facing one of her best friends. "Bri… You do whatever you think is necessary. You haven't spoken to him, have you?" Bri shook her head. "Well, talk to him first, all right? See what he has to say. You know I'm not a fan of divorces, but I'm here for you and support your decision 100%."

Bri replied with a smile. "Thanks Gen. Now, are you down to head out for lunch? I was in a rush this morning and didn't grab anything on the way out. You seem to be doing nothing, anyway."

"I am doing absolutely nothing, Bri. Do you see anything on my desk?"

"Chipotle it is."

_Author's note: Sorry it's so much shorter than the other chapters! BRI PLEASE DON'T KILL ME._


	8. Chapter 8: Lisa & Logan

Logan walked up behind Lisa, who was on the desktop computer with Damien on her lap. The kid was playing a game last time he walked by, but now, for whatever reason, he was on Google.

"What are you doing, little man?" Logan asked, while leaning against the chair. Damien was too engrossed in the computer, doing what he was doing, to answer his father. "Okay, thanks." He turned his attention towards Lisa. "Dakota fell asleep on the couch, so I bought her upstairs. What's this guy up to?"

"He wanted to look you up on the internet," Lisa said. "He said, 'I see Daddy on TV all the time. What about on the computer?' So I bought him to Google. He demanded that I let him type out your name."

Damien was frantically searching the keyboard for the "N" key. He was on the first "N" in "Henderson." That's when he grabbed his mother's hand and placed it on the keyboard. "I give up," Damien said. Lisa finished typing her husband's name for Damien and hit the search button. Wikipedia, of course, was the first site that came up, so Damien automatically opted for that.

"Hey, I bet you I'm in the 'Personal Life' section!" Lisa said. She had never bothered to search Logan on the internet after they started talking, because she thought it was creepy searching people she knew. Now, she was interested. She scrolled down to the "Personal Life" section. She started reading through. "Logan is married to singer Lisa Cody and had two kids, Damien and Dakota. Aw, how cute! Damien, you're in this, too."

"I know, I heard you say it, Mom," Damien said. "You guys live cool lives…"

"You'll get there soon enough," Logan said. His eyes were scanning the article. He never bothered to look up anything on him, and it was his first time seeing things online about his personal life. At the very top of the section, though, the article read, "Henderson dated a friend, Mari. Things ended between them after about a year of dating." Logan sighed, remembering that things with Mari didn't end on good terms. "Gee, I wonder how Mari's doing," Logan said.

Lisa shifted in the computer chair. Damien hopped off her lap and headed towards the stairs. "Logan… You did not just say that," she said.

"What?"

"You wonder how Mari's doing?"

"Well, yeah," Logan replied. "Why wouldn't I wonder? I did go out with the girl, you know. I did have feelings for her." Lisa rolled her eyes andgot up. She headed into the living room. "So, what, now you're mad at me for wondering how an old friend is doing?" Logan said, while following her.

Lisa didn't see Mari as just an ex-girlfriend or an old friend of Logan's. When Lisa and Logan first starting talking regularly, Lisa couldn't stand Logan. When they met, Logan was in post-break up depression, or so she called it. "Logan, you do realize that Mari is the reason why I hated you when we first met, right?" Lisa said with an eyebrow raised. "You were all… mopey because of her! Why would you want to know how she's doing?"

"Because she is a human being, too, you know," Logan replied sarcastically. "I'm sure you wonder about your exes!"

"Logan, I have one ex-boyfriend and I am still friends with him today." Logan didn't know how to reply to that, because she was right. She was still friends with her ex. "Whatever," Lisa continued. "I'm going to bed early. Goodnight, Logan."

When she hit the top of the stairs, that's when he noticed something him. Lisa didn't call him "Mr. Henderson." It sounded silly, but Lisa always called him that. That's when he realized it. He always wondered how his ex was doing, but he never told anyone. He just revealed his own secret.

_Author's note: Another short chapter. Le siiigh~_


	9. Chapter 9: Conor

"IN DESPARATE NEED OF A GIRLS DAY, NIGHT, AFTERNOON, SUNRISE, DUSK, THREE-IN-THE-MORNING, WHATEVER," Lisa typed into the group text message. "And no, no daughters included. We need to talk about some serious stuff."

"Agreed," said the text Brianna said. "I need to talk to all of you."

"I'm all ears! And I could use a few hours away from being in a house full of guys," Gabi's text read. "Curse you all for having someone else with a uterus in your house. Not like they're old enough to understand what goes on the real world yet, other than Effy, but still."

Genny replied with a: "Sorry Gabi. Whose chromosomes fault is that?"

"Carlos'. He's the guy, remember? What did we learn in Biology?!"

"You guys busy tomorrow? You can come over. Logan's taking the kids to see his parents," Lisa suggested.

"I'm in," Genny's text said.

"I'm free," Brianna's text said next.

Gabi was the last to send something to the group text. "See you all tomorrow!"

The next day.

Though she was still on lockdown, Genny allowed Effy out of the house and dropped her off at the Maslow household, before heading over to the Hendersons', to spend time with Conor. It was her first time going out, really, since the two of them got caught. James let her into house and she made her way up the stairs and towards Conor's room.

"Conor," she said while knocking on her door. "I'm here!"

Conor opened his door and greeted his best friend with a smile. It still hadn't hit him that his best friend was talking again. Last time she spoke, they were both going into the 8th grade. Effy let her shyness get the best of her, and no one heard her say anything after her 13th birthday.

"Anyway, what's up?" Effy said. Conor stared at her, still unable the whole Effy-was-now-speaking thing. She rolled her eyes. "Okay. You're still not over the whole me speaking again thing, are you? Would you like me to stay quite?" Conor shook his head. He still hadn't said a word.

"So what, you're going to stop talking now?" Effy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No," he finally said. "I'm just not used to it. We haven't had a legit conversation since 8th grade. Texts don't count." Conor had no idea how he felt about the whole Effy's-talking-now thing. He had gotten so used to not hearing her voice and wasn't expecting her to speak any time soon. He had no idea that it would take them getting caught doing things they shouldn't be doing for her to start talking again.

Conor honestly missed talking to Effy. She was shy around others, but they grew up together and they were best friends. The used to talk for hours on end with each other. He never thought he'd be able to get the chance to ever do that again. He spent every day hoping that she would start talking again. Every birthday wish was used for that.

Wishing Effy would talk again made him think about Effy more and more often. He was harping on it more than he should have, and he didn't know why. It didn't hit him and he didn't accepted it until recently, but in the midst of wishing she would talk again, Conor realized that he had feelings for Effy, and he always did. However, he didn't know if he wanted to tell her or not. He didn't want to risk losing the friendship they already had, but at the same time, he wanted to take things to another level.

_Author's note: I'm sorry these chapters are so short. GAAAHHH. And I don't know what the deal was with this not being posted. Sorry. :(_


	10. Chapter 10: Kendall

Kendall's best friend and Genny's step-cousin, Dylan, was over at Kendall's house for a chill session. Genny was still at Lisa's with Gabi and Brianna, and Effy was still hanging out with Conor.

"I want a beer. Do you have any beer?" Dylan asked. He made his way over to the fridge and opened it.

"Freezer, bro," Kendall called out.

"Why the fuck do you keep beer in the _freezer_?" Dylan asked. He closed the fridge door, opened the freezer and grabbed the first bottle he spotted. "They're not even that cold. Kendall, you're doing it wrong. So,_ so_ wrong."

Kendall looked at his best friend for the longest time before responding. "You do realize that I only have beer in the freezer when you tell me you're coming over, right? You tell me you're coming over last minute and I know you'd ask for beer, so I put it in the freezer, thinking _maybe_ it'll be cold by the time you get here. Just for you. Do I get any kudos?"

"No."

"Okay, thanks." The two of them made their way outside. Their kids were in the pool and they had no reason to be inside, anyway. "So, what's been up with you? It's been a while since we last chilled."

"Not too much, really," Dylan replied. "Work's the same, the house is the same, life is the same, really. What's up with you? I spoke to James a few days ago and he seemed a bit… I don't know, stand off-ish."

Kendall wasn't sure if telling Dylan everything that went down was a good thing, but he figured that since Genny probably already told someone else, he went for it. In the midst of his explanation, however, Kendall realized he never talked to Genny about the whole Tyler thing.

Dylan was gone by the time Genny had gotten home. Kendall was in the living room, waiting on Genny. When he heard the front door open, he called out her name. She made her way to where he was, she studied him for a bit. "Why are you all jittery?" Genny asked.

"I have to talk to you," Kendall said.

"About…?"

"Tyler," he replied. Genny raised an eyebrow. Kendall knew Genny was one to easily get over fights, with an apology or not, but he knew this was something he had to apologize for.

"Kendall," Genny started. "We don't have to talk about him… Everything was kind of already made clear when he was first brought up, don't you think?"

"Well, I just want to say sorry for over-reacting and not telling you that Lauren called," he said. "I don't like Tyler and you know that. And you know why, too. The kid drove you insane. Do you know how different things would be if you actually succeeded with your suicide attempt?" He let out a sigh. He didn't like the idea of Genny being gone. "Seriously, think about it."

She stood there for a moment, thinking about what Kendall had just said. She never really thought about how different things would be if any one of them were gone. She didn't want to take credit for everything, but if it weren't for her, the wolfpack wouldn't exist. Maybe there would've been another wolfpack, but the way things were now was all her doing. Logan met Lisa, James started dating Brianna and Carlos met Gabi, all through her. She unintentionally played matchmaker.

"You're right," she said. "I'm sorry for not telling you I bumped into him, either. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've decided not to talk to Tyler or Lauren anymore. It doesn't feel right."

"So we're good on the subject?"

She nodded. "Just… Don't bring up anything I don't want you bring up from the past, all right?" Genny said. "I mean, unless you want me to bring up something from your past that you're embarrassed about."

"You have nothing on me."

"Try me, _big man_," Genny said in a mocking tone.

"Oh no…"

"REEL BALLERZ GO REEL BALLERZ!" She threw her arms up in the air as if she was cheering his old paint balling team on. "Like when you told that guy a retirement home address. Nice attempt at a burn." She air quoted "burn." She started laughing, remembering reading Kendall's posts on a paint balling website. He was around 15, and he lacked spelling and good grammar.

"All right, Genevieve," Kendall said while walking over to her. "That's enough!" He grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her.

"REEL BALLERZ-" she yelled, but was cut off when Kendall placed his hand over his mouth.

"Stop," he said. "Stop, stop, stop, stop… Shh… You're ruining the moment…" He took his hand off of her mouth. She gave looked up at him and gave him a you-did-not-just-shush-me look. Rolling her eyes, she wrapped her arms around him. She thought Kendall hugs were always the best.

The two head the front door unlock and open. They turned in that direction, still embracing each other and heard it close. Effy was home. "I'm home," she called out. She made her way into the living room. "Brianna was passing by and dropped me-" She stopped when she saw her parents in the living room. "Ugh. You guys are so disgusting." She turned around and headed towards the staircase.

"You know, I'm still not used to hearing her talk yet," Kendall said while letting out another sigh. "She hasn't called us disgusting or anything along those lines in a long, long time." He rested his chin on top of Genny's head. "You know… I say this a lot, but you're really short, Genevieve."

"Ugh, not you too!" Genny responded. She pulled back from their hug.

"What? What did I do?" Kendall asked in defense. He raised his hands, showing that he was innocent for whatever she was accusing him of.

"I didn't tell you what Nathan said to me not too long ago?" Genny asked with an eyebrow raised. Kendall shook his head, not having a clue what she was talking about. "All right then, let me enlighten you!"


	11. Chapter 11: James, Logan & Lisa

James stopped by the Henderson household before heading back home. He needed to talk to someone, and he knew Lisa and Logan would listen. The three of them were chilling in the living room. "All right," James started. "Lisa, I'm assuming Brianna told you."

"She did," Lisa responded. "And I'm assuming she talked to you about it?" She frowned. Lisa hated the idea of two of her closest friends ending their relationship.

"I'm confused," Logan said. "What's going on?"

"Yes, she did talk to me about it." James let out a sigh. "Bri's thinking about a divorce."

It took Logan a second to process what James just told him. "What? Why?" Both Lisa and James shrugged, because Brianna didn't exactly have a reason to, and they were just as confused as she was. "Well, what are your thoughts?"

"I don't want a divorce, Logan," James said. "But if she's unhappy then…"

"Hey," Lisa said. "She said she's still unsure. You never said she was unhappy. You two will figure it out. I don't see any break ups in the future, between any of us.

"This… isn't because of the whole thing that went down with Effy and Conor, right?" Logan asked. He was still unsure of what was happening to everything and everyone. There were fights and conflicts before, but nothing this huge. He wasn't able to grasp the idea of everyone not getting along.

James shook his head. "As far as I know, it's not, and I don't think it is."

"How do you even know about that?" Lisa asked. She was just told about that just recently.

"Genny told me," Logan said. "Remember that one time we went out to lunch and I said she wanted to talk to me about something?" Lisa nodded, remembering when that took place. "I'm sure whatever's bothering her will be resolved soon enough," he said, trying to reassure him that things were going to be all right.

"You're not thinking about one too, are you?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, no," James replied in defense. "Definitely not." He looked at the time on his watch and sighed once again. "I've got to get going. It's getting late. We'll chill again soon, yeah?"

"Yes!" Logan said. They all said their goodbyes and James left. "So, what do you think? Do you really think they're going to get a divorce?"

Lisa shook her read. "I don't see it happening." Other things were on her mind, other than James and Brianna. She turned to Logan. "Logan… Just wondering, if you and Mari never broke up, do you think you'd be here right now, or do you think you'd be with her?"

"Lisa, you can't still be upset with me over me wanting to know how she's doing," Logan said.

"Just answer the question, please."

He wasn't sure how to answer it, but just so he wouldn't make his wife anymore upset, he replied with a "Of course I'd be here. We still would've gone on that tour together even if I was with her or not." That tour was when Lisa was their opening act, and she pushed all hard feelings aside. However, there were a lot of scenarios running through his head. Maybe he would've been here, maybe he wouldn't. After thinking about it for a while, he knew he'd still be with Lisa, regardless if he and his ex broke up before he met Lisa or not.

However, he was still Logan. He cared for everything and everyone, and he still wanted to know how Mari was doing.

When Lisa made her way upstairs, he pulled out his phone and searched for Genny's name in his phonebook. He pressed the call option and brought the phone to his ear, pacing back and forth in the hopes of her picking up.

"Hello?" she asked. There was music in the background and the sounds of people cheering. He would only assume that she was working, at a show.

"Are you busy right now? I can call you back later if you want," Logan said. He didn't like interrupting people when they were in the middle of things.

"Ah, no, it's fine," Genny said, reassuring Logan that he wasn't interrupting anything. "I'm at a show, but I finished what I had to do here so I'm heading out. What's up?"

"I was just wondering," Logan started. "How much did Lisa hate me when we first met?" He was never really told. He knew that he didn't leave a good first impression on Lisa-it took almost a year for her to get over that, but he wasn't completely sure what level of dislike he was on in her list.

"Uh..." Genny was hesitant to answer. She wasn't sure if Logan should know how much hate Lisa had towards Logan when they first met. She remembered Lisa using a photo of Logan as a target, for everything. Archery, darts... _everything_. She knew very well that Logan was chilling on the highest level of dislike on Lisa's list during that time.

"Genny, you can tell me. She's clearly over it now," Logan said. "I mean, obviously, I am married to her."

"Okay, well, she used to scale her dislikes from a one to Logan..."

"Ouch..."

"Why do you ask? Is she still pissed about the whole Mari thing?"

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I mean, it's understandable if she used to dislike me so much."

"Logan, everything's fine," Genny said. "Not between everyone else, but between you and Lisa. She'll get over it eventually. You know how she is."

"I do," Logan replied. He knew Lisa was one to harp on situations for a while. "I was just wondering, though, when was the last time you spoke to Mari? You two were really close back that."

Genny had to think about it for a moment. She only really talked to Logan's ex when the two were dating. She didn't remember talking to Mari at all since she and Logan called it quits. "Hm... Well, I don't think I've spoken to her at all, to be honest." She then remembered the last time she visited New York. "Ah, I remember now. Remember when I went back to New York a few months ago? She was at a party I went to. She's doing fine, I can tell you that. I only talked to her for a bit, I don't know much of what's going on in her life, really."

"Ah. Well, thanks. We'll hang out soon."

"Definitely!"


	12. Chapter 12: The Schmidts & Penas

The Schmidts were over at the Penas and of course, everyone who was over the age of 10 was in the kitchen, including Effy, who was currently hitting her head against the kitchen counter. Carlos was sitting next to her, wondering why she was doing such a thing. "You all right, Effy?"

"I'm_ hungry_. And I have a hardcore craving for cheesecake," she responded with her head down on the counter.

"She is your child, too," Gabi said to Genny. "Why does everyone in your family like cheesecake?"

"Because it's delish," Kendall responded. Gabi shot Kendall a glare, and he threw his arms up in defense. "It's the cream cheese's fault you don't like cheesecake, not mine! And actually, not going to lie, I'm pretty hungry, too. You guys want to order something?"

"Well, there's that new pizza place that just opened," Carlos suggested. "Their sign says 'New York style pizza.'" Both Genny and Gabi shot glares at Carlos. The two were from New York and they both knew very well that New York style pizza only existed in New York.

"If there's one thing I hate about California, it's the lack of good pizza," Genny said. "Man, I miss living in New York sometimes solely because I miss the good pizza. Ugh, now I can't wait to visit my brother and parents over there. I could kill for a day in Manhattan, just to eat pizza. "

Gabi nodded. "Agreed. The only thing 'New York' about that place is that sign. Carlos, you should know better." She then turned to Kendall. "You, too, Kendall. You and your cheesecake loving family…"

"All right, can we not with the arguing over food?" Effy asked. "I am hungry and you four aren't helping it."

"Your fault for choosing to be in the kitchen with us instead of in the living room with the young ones," Carlos said sarcastically.

"You think I want to be surrounded by younger kids? No thank you. It's my parents fault for 'accidentally' having me early on their marriage." She air quoted "accidentally." "They gave me an awkward age difference between me and my brothers," Effy replied with an eye roll.

"You certainly get your sass from Kendall," Genny replied. "I forgot how sassy you were."

Carlos laughed. "Accurate! Effy, you do remind me a lot of Kendall. But really, what do you want? We'll order something. I mean, since we were talking about cheesecake, I kind of want to order from the Cheesecake Factory. With a red-velvet cheesecake because Effy's hair color reminds me of red velvet cake…"

"Enough with the cheesecake!" Gabi called out.

"You can order something that isn't cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, though," Kendall said. "Come on, Gabi, get your head in the game."

"I hate all of you."

"You love us!" Kendall loudly and sarcastically. He threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Gabi shook her head. "What did I do wrong in life?" she muttered to herself, unable to break free of Kendall's grip.

Effy looked up the Cheesecake Factory menu on her phone and met much success. "Yes!" she called out. She started scrolling through her options. "Everything sounds delish…"

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR FAMILY," Gabi yelled. "Cheesecake lovers and 'delish' is apart of your every day vocabulary?" She still struggled to break free from Kendall's grip. "Kendall, let me go!" He did as he was told and Gabi made her way to the other side of the kitchen counter to stand next to Genny. "I swear, I thought we already left middle school."

"We did," Genny said. "These two clearly didn't."

"Hey, Gabi just thinks she's cooler than all of us because she's awesome and has a successful comic book series," Kendall said.

Gabi raised an eyebrow. "Says the person who had a TV show, was in a successful band and went on multiple world tours."

"She does have a point," Genny said in agreement. "Now, really, let's order food because I'm getting hungry. And you have to admit, it does feel like middle school with all the drama going on."

"I hope things start to look up, for everyone," Carlos said. "It sucks. I feel like we're all talking to each other less and less since all of this started."


	13. Chapter 13: Gabi & Carlos

Everyone in the Pena family was in the living room. Tonight was a movie night, but Cole and Roy were knocked out on the couch and it was going on 10 PM. Carlos and Gabi were both lying on the floor, for no reason whatsoever, and staring at the ceiling.

"Gabi," Carlos started. He was thinking about everything that was going on between everyone in what Gabi referred to as "the wolfpack." "You're not hiding any secrets from me, right?"

"No," Gabi said. "Hell, I speak my mind and you know that. I don't think anything serious has happened to me to add onto whatever the hell is going on with everyone else. I don't think you have anything to add onto this, either." She turned to him. "Or do you?"

"I don't," Carlos said, reassuring her that everything was fine. "And if I did, I'm pretty sure I'd tell you. Damn, I'm so glad we aren't caught up in all of this. It actually really, really sucks. We all haven't been together since who knows when. I miss hanging out with all of the bros, and I'm sure all the kids are starting to notice it as well. Even Lisa and Logan are fighting. They _never_ fight!"

"I agree," Gabi said. "Everything just needs to blow over soon. And I'm surprised about Logan and Lisa fighting, but hey, he did bring up his ex. I never met her and I didn't know Lisa whenever all of that went down, but since it obviously caused a serious problem when they first met, it's completely understandable as to why she would get upset.

Carlos remembered that time period. It was when Genny and Lisa first moved out to California. Kendall and Genny just started dating and Logan just got out of his relationship when they all first met. Though it seemed as if Lisa was the one who hated Logan, the feeling was almost mutual. It wasn't as harsh as Lisa's hatred towards him, but Logan still didn't approve of Lisa at first.

"All right, so you don't have sixth toe or anything?" Gabi asked just to confirm that there were no secrets between them.

"Gabi… you see my feet every day…"

"Just making sure. It could be invisible, you know. No pun intended."

"You have a very vivid imagination," Carlos said. "I guess that would explain why you have an awesome comic book series. Speaking of which, any ideas for the next issue yet, or idea for another book? Comic Con in New York this October?"

"And well, duh. Of course Comic-Con is going to happen. I had a panel at the San Diego one, I'm sure I'll be getting one in New York, as well. You are welcome to come with. And well, no ideas at the moment." She shook her head. "See, this is why I always stock. I'm way ahead. It's helpful when you have writers block. I mean, I could write a story about all of this. I find it quite amusing, honestly."

"You mean what's going on with everyone?" Carlos laughed and shook his head. "Everyone would chop your head off."

"No one would know who I'm talking about, except for them, so..." She shrugged. "Hey, maybe my next story will be based on you and your invisible sixth toe."

"Are you going to write a character based on you for that? Maybe a 38-year-old who hates cheesecake?"

"Sure, she can married to the almost 45-year old with an invisible sixth toe."

"You're going to harp on this invisible toe, aren't you?"

"Everyone else has their secrets," Gabi said. "You need one, too, so I'm just going to pretend that that's your secret, okay? It may not be true, but it's what I'm assigning you."

Carlos nodded in agreement. There was nothing wrong with it and he might as well be added into the mix of everyone else spilling their secrets. "What about you, do you get a secret? If so, you can come up with it."

"Nah, you can come up with it."

"How about you actually secretly love cheesecake and you think it's _delish_? Or maybe you actually really liked Twilight when you were younger."

"Why does everything always go back to cheesecake and the word 'delish'?" She muttered to herself, "It's not even a real word." She let out what seemed like a sarcastic sigh and snickered. "Twilight. You're funny. Did I tell you I actually picked up a copy of Twilight just so I could sit and edit the entire thing? I swear, Genny has had a strong influence on you when it comes to making fun of me. Curse the both of you. Really."

Carlos got up. He stood above his wife and looked down at her. "Hey, it's funny, okay? You and Genny are virtually the same person, minus the whole... difference in interests things, but you two have pretty much the same personality, so you can pretend I'm making fun of her, as well."

"Well, she does like cheesecake. That is a huge different. However, It's more like she isn't afraid to say what's on her mind, and I keep my mouth shut. But, we do share the same thoughts. I'm thinking of someone I don't want to say out loud, and two seconds later, she'll scream it out loud. That's pretty much what it's like whenever we go see a movie."

"Ah, well I am fully aware of that. Are you going to stay on the floor?"

"Do you have a problem with me lying on the floor?"

Carlos shook his head and smiled. "You are so weird. Well, I'm going to bring these two into their rooms. Have fun lying on the floor."

"I will."

By the time Carlos brought both of their sons into their bedrooms, he was looking down at Gabi from the top of the staircase. "You do realize that bugs have sex on the floor, right? You may be lying on bug sperm and you would never know," he called out.

She turned her head towards him. "Why must you suck the fun out of _everything_?"


	14. Chapter 14: Effy & Conor

Conor and made his downstairs to get something to drink. He stopped, however, when he overheard his parents talking in the living room. He knew they were talking about something serious.

"I mean, if you really to go through with it..." James said.

"James, I still don't know," Brianna replied. "I don't think a divorce is the right solution, but..."

Conor didn't even listen to the rest of his mom's sentence. How now knew that his parents were thinking about a divorce, and that was something he never thought would happen. He quickly made his way upstairs, grabbed his phone and called Effy. Right now, he needed his best friend.

The doorbell rang about a half hour later. "It's unlocked!" Conor called out from the living room. Effy made her way inside. "Thank God you're here," he said. He walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Is everything all right, Conor?" she asked while hugging him back. She was worried. He sounded upset on the phone and she had no idea why. He shook his head and sat down on the couch. "What's wrong?" She took a seat next to him.

"Effy, my parents are thinking about a divorce. A _divorce_!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"I over heard them talking..." He was freaking out.

"Okay, relax," Effy said. "Well, think about it. Why would they be thinking about one? I know there's a lot going on right now, with everyone, but has anything else gone down between your mom and your dad?"

Conor had to think about it for a moment. He didn't know why his parents would even consider getting a divorce in the first place. Nothing came to mind and he just shrugged. "I don't know, it was out of no where, Effy." This was something Conor would harp on until he knew the answers. "Wait..." He was also one to jump conclusions. "All of this started when we got in trouble, when my dad said your mom hooked up with him."

"What?" Effy turned sharply to face Conor. "What makes you think that's the reason why? You just heard your parents talking about it_ today_. You don't know how long they're been talking about it. That can't be the reason why!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying. It's the only thing that comes to mind. Come on, your mom, a partier? Who knew! She got piss drunk and hooked up with my dad! She could've been a whore. Your dad may not be your dad."

"Conor..." her voice trailed off as her throat started to close up and the tears formed. She knew Conor was upset about his parents maybe splitting up, but these conclusions were extreme and why he was jumping to them was beyond her.

"What, you're going to tell me that it isn't true?" He slightly laughed, mockingly. "Don't even try. I'm convinced."

Effy was speechless. Conor has said harsh things before, he was a 16 year old boy after all, but he'd never said anything like this before, especially to Effy about her mother. Rage was building up inside of her, but she was Effy. She wasn't one to show her emotions.

Just when she thought Conor was done, he spoke up once more.

"Your mom... Wow. I mean, clearly, your name is Effy Lovegood Schmidt. Eff, you were named after two crazy people! Effy Stonem and Luna Lovegood? Come on. Your mom might just be insane. You might be insane, as well. Whatever, the universe fucking hates me."

Effy simply got up from sitting and turned to leave. She didn't want anything to do with Conor after everything he just said and she certainly did not want to sit through anymore of it. He got up after her.

"Where are you going?" Conor asked. She didn't respond and continued heading towards the front door. "Oh, so you're leaving. Well, fuck. Great, awesome. Even you hate me."

"That's true," she muttered under her breath.

"Whatever, you're all fucked up, anyway."

She turned around and faced Conor. She still had nothing else to say.

"Don't look at me like that," Conor said. "Well, all right, if you're not going to say anything and stop talking again like you did three years ago, then goodbye!" He turned around and headed towards the living room.

The rage inside of her was at its maximum. Her hands were now in fists. She lunged at him, and the last thing she remembered doing was screaming, "I hate you!"

James' attention was turned to Jackie and Nick when they ran into the room. They were freaking out, swallowing their words and unable to say a complete sentence, and James knew it wasn't because they were excited.

"Guys, what's wrong?" he asked his two younger kids. "Is everything all right?"

The two were still stumbling over and trying to find the words. Finally, Jackie was able to spit it out. "Conor and Effy are fighting!"

At first, James didn't believe them, but then he heard the noises going on downstairs. He rushed out of the bedroom, went downstairs and found both Effy and Conor on the living room floor. Conor was struggling to get Effy off of him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James called out. He quickly made his way over to them and grabbed Effy by the waist, pulling her off of Conor right before she was able to throw another punch. "What the _hell_ is going on here?" he asked, nearly yelling.

"Your son is a douchebag!" Effy yelled. She tried lunging at Conor again, but she was unsuccessful in trying to get out of James' grip.

"Well then..." James replied. Something serious was going down, and that was something he was going to and needed to learn about. "And what to do you have to say about this?" he asked Conor.

He wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand and looked at Effy. "_I liked it better when you didn't speak_."

James and Effy both looked at Conor in disbelief. James let go of Effy. She took that as a giant slap to the face. Not having anything else to say, she turned and ran towards the front door. She was gone in a matter of seconds.

James let out a sigh. "Did you _really _have to say that, Conor?"

_Author's note: Oh, the Coneffy feels are flying through the roof. _


	15. Chapter 15: Kendall & Effy

Kendall has been home for only a half hour when his phone started ringing. Effy's name came up on the screen, even though he just dropped her off at the Maslow household. He didn't even get the chance to say hello when she started talking.

"Dad, pick me up."

"Effy, I just dropped you off."

"_Pick me up!_"

"Not even a question, but a _demand_," Kendall said sarcastically.

"Dad..."

That's when he recognized the sad tone in her voice. He automatically knew something was wrong and he knew she was about to cry, if she wasn't already. "All right, on my way. Is everything all right, Eff?"

"Just hurry up, please."

Kendall was a few streets away when his phone started ringing again. He was surprised when he saw James' name come up on the screen, since he hadn't spoken to him since the whole Effy and Conor incident, but he figured that if he was calling him, it was for a good reason. "Hello?" he answered.

"Hey man, Effy just left the house, and uh, she and Conor just got into a really big fight," James said.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, Jackie and Nick were yelling that they were fighting and Effy was beating the living shit out of Conor."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, but he's not telling me what happened and Effy didn't say anything, either. Can you ask her for me, please? Whatever it was, it clearly was not a good thing and I want to know what Conor said or did, if he was the one who started it."

"Yeah, definitely, I see her walking now. I'll let you know." He hung up the phone and pulled up to his daughter, who was already walking back to their house because she wanted to get as far away from Conor as she could, despite living a 20-minute drive away. She got into the passenger seat and plugged in her headphones. "Effy, can you take off the headphones?"

She sighed and pulled them out. "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about what? That you just beat up your best friend?"

"You're not talking to one of your best friends at the moment, who happens to be my best friend's father. Hell, best friend. What the fuck does that even mean anymore?"

"Effy, stop. What happened?"

She didn't say anything. She turned to look out the window. He sighed and turned the car around to head back to their house.

"So what, you're going to stop talking again?"

"No."

"Then tell me what happened."

"Conor was trash talking Mom," she finally said. He heard the tone of her voice and he was able to tell that it upset her. "He was calling her a whore and saying that she's the reason why James and Brianna are thinking about a divorce, and I know that's not the case. There has to be more reasoning behind it. And then he said he liked it better when I didn't speak. So, whatever, fuck it, fuck him."

Kendall sighed. Everything was going in the wrong direction. A few weeks ago, everyone got along and everyone was the best of friends. Now, these problems were ruining the bond they all had; it was even effecting their kids, and he hated the sight of seeing everything fall apart.

"Eff, I'm sure whatever's going on between them has nothing to do with what happened between your mom and James. I'm still upset with James about the whole thing and your mom, too-"

Effy cut him off. "Then why aren't you freaking out about it to her?"

"I am freaking out, I just can't show that I'm upset about it. I don't want to freak her out or be a bother to her." He didn't know how to approach his daughter about the subject. He knew Genny never told Effy what was going on with her. "Effy, it sucks more than anything else, because James is one of my best friends. I could see why he took that opportunity, and I can also see why he didn't tell anyone until now. I shouldn't even be upset with Genny, she doesn't even remember it."

"But… what's going on with Mom? What guy were you talking about?"

Kendall didn't know if he had the right to tell his daughter about his wife's past relationships, and where one of them ended up. He wasn't even sure if Genny had even mentioned anything about her exes to Effy.

"Has mom ever told you about her previous relationships?" he asked while deciding to take the longer route home.

"No," she replied.

"But you're still going to hammer it out of me, aren't you?" he asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Of course," she replied with a smile.

He sighed. "There was this guy named Tyler. He's the guy your mom went out with before she started dating me, before she even moved out to California. They didn't date for very long, but you know how she's an A&R worker now?"

"Yes," she said.

"Yeah, she used to run this website when she was younger. She was really big on interviewing bands and artists, working with them, anything along those lines," Kendall said. "She was also apart of this web series; I don't remember what site, and she specialized that in artists people should check out. So this guy met her and ended up using her for her fame. I'm not going to say who it is, because his band is actually pretty popular now. She liked him a lot and he just screwed her over. It led to whole ordeal and he pretty much drove her insane, and I hate him so much. She almost killed herself because of him."

"Whoa, are you serious?"

"Yeah," he said. "She wasn't exactly over that whole ordeal when we started dating, either. But it's whatever, she can deal with him. She's done it before, she can do it again. I just hate how she didn't mention anything."

"Maybe she didn't want any of us to get involved."

"Probably, your mom's very independent." He continued on about Genny, talking about her and the things he loved about her.

"Dad."

"Sorry."

"You always do that, you know? I mention something about Mom and you can go on for hours about how much you love her. You two are my one-true-pairing and I will go down with that ship!" She raised her fist proudly. "But really. It's cool that you have someone to love. Mom feels the same way, you know. She can go on for hours on how much she loves you, too. That's not easy to find. I'm glad you two found each other. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for that."

He smiled. "Seventeen years and still going strong. You'll find someone soon enough. Just... don't try and rush it."

"Don't try and rush it," she said, repeating and mocking her father. "Friendly reminder that you did marry mom when she was 21 and you did have me when she was 22, hence the awkward age different between me and Cameron and Nathan." She shook her head, but she liked the way things were, and she was very well aware that things would be much different if that weren't the case.

Kendall shrugged. "It wouldn't make a difference if we waited, anyway. And you... you were planned, you just decided to show up earlier."

"That's not my fault. Half of it is your's the other half is mom's fault."

"Okay, okay, fine, you have a point," he said with a laugh. "But hey, don't listen to Conor. Your mom may have been a party girl in the past, but those days are behind her. He's probably just upset about his parents. And Genny… Oh man. Your mom isn't even white and she got white-girl-wasted. When she studied abroad in London, she took advantage of the lower drinking age. Big time. No pun intended."

Effy started laughing. "Oh my gosh, I still can't picture that."

"Hey, you'd be surprised." He smiled. "You know, Effy, I like that you're talking again. I missed hearing your voice."

"And I missed having conversations with you, Dad. Now… James and Mom."

Kendall shrugged. "I don't know, Effy. I had no idea James liked her."

"Did Mom ever like him back?"

"No," he said. "I mean, she thinks he's attractive, like every other female on the planet, but she never actually had a thing for him. Plus, he met her though me. We were already dating when they started talking regularly."

"Ah, all right," Effy replied. "Oh, and I have one more request."

"What might that be?"

"Can we get some frozen yogurt?"


	16. Chapter 16: James & Conor

_Two new text messages from Kendall:_

_"She said that Conor was saying negative things about Gen and said that she's the reason why you and Brianna are thinking about a divorce." _

_"and he said that he liked it better when she didn't speak."_

James sighed as the read the text messages from Kendall, regarding the fight that went down just earlier. All of the drama going on between everyone was too much, and it was branching out to their kids. At this rate, everyone would hate each other and they'd forget everything and everything they've been through together.

"You okay?" Brianna asked, interrupted his thoughts. "And why is Conor's music so loud? What did you do the piss him off?" she asked jokingly.

"I didn't do anything," James replied, almost bitterly. He wasn't in the mood for jokes. "He brought it upon himself. He and Effy for into a fight today." He shook his head. "He jumped to conclusions and assumed we're thinking about a divorce because of Genny."

"What?" Brianna said in disbelief. "How does he even know about that? Did he overhear us talking or something? That has nothing to do with any of this. What did he even say?"

"I'm assuming he did," James said. "I don't know what exactly, but they obviously weren't good things. I'm going to talk to him." He made his way over to Conor's room. He started knocking on his door, but Conor's music was up entirely too loud and his knocking was only blending into the music. He twisted the door knob and he found his son, sitting on his bed, on his laptop. "Could you turn down the music?"

Conor shook his head, because he hated being bothered when he was in a bad mood, but he listened to his father. "I should remember to lock my door more often."

"And could you get off your laptop for now?"

"And can you_ leave_?" The response was almost a demand.

"No, I'm not leaving." James stood at the foot of Conor's bed with his arms crossed. "What happened earlier?" Conor continued typing away on his laptop, ignoring his father. "Conor." He still ignored his father and grabbed his headphones off of his nightstand. "_CONOR_!" James finally yelled.

"All right, all right," Conor said, setting his laptop aside and raising his hands up in defense. Conor didn't want to explain to his dad, or anyone really, what was running through his head. Everyone was upset with him already, he didn't want to add anymore reason why to the list.

"What happened?"

"We got into a fight," Conor replied, as blunt as could be.

"No _shit_, Sherlock," James replied, getting aggravated. He simply wanted to know why the two were fighting and Conor was being difficult, but that was expected of the 16-year-old. "You know, I already know why things went down the way they did today. I'm just waiting for you to explain yourself."

"I'm upset, that's all, Dad," Conor replied. "I overheard you and mom talking about a divorce and it freaked me out." Conor didn't want to be another kid with divorced parents. So many of his friends' parents weren't together, and he couldn't stand the thought of his parents being the same way. "I don't... I don't like the idea of you and mom not being together."

"Look, Conor," James said as he sat down on the edge of Conor's bed. "Nothing is finalized. We're still discussing it, all right? I love your mom a lot. She drives me insane sometimes-hell, she drives me insane all the time, but if she isn't happy, then I don't want to be the reason. You know?" He let out a sigh. He didn't like the idea if being separated from Brianna, either, but he did want her to be happy. "And what happened between Genny doesn't factor into this, at all. You do know that happened a really, really long time ago, right? I don't approve of the things you said about her, whatever they were, because none of it is or was true."

"I hope a divorce isn't finalized..." Conor let out a sigh. "And I know, Dad. I realize that now and I feel terrible about the whole thing, and Effy's not answering her phone..."

"You did tell her you liked it better when she didn't speak," James said. "Why'd you say that to her? That's _not_ the right way to win a girl's heart.

"Like I said, I was upset..." Conor then realized what his dad said. "Wait, what?" He shot James a look of confusion.

James laughed a bit. "I don't think you realize how obvious it is that you like her."

"What? No-"

"Conor, I am your dad. I know these things. Hell, everyone can tell. It's like your wearing a shirt that says 'I love Effy.'" He shook his head and laughed again. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure she doesn't even have a clue."

Conor shrugged. "Okay, I guess that's reassuring."

"Okay, well, I want you to apologize to her and to Genny. We don't need anymore added into everything that's already going on between everyone."

He nodded in agreement. "Will do. Speaking of which, when are you going to talk to Kendall and Genny again? It's summer, we should be making s'mores at their place."

"I spoke to Kendall today."

Conor looked at his father with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, on the 'bro' level, Dad." He air quoted "bro." "Not the I'm-only-calling-to-see-what-Effy-and-Conor-were-fighting-about level."

"Whenever I have the guts to face Kendall about it."

"Sounds reasonable. So, we're good?"

"For now." James got up and was almost out the door when he realized something else. He turned around, looked at his son and started laughing.

"What?" Conor asked, not knowing what his dad was finding so amusing, and why there was a sudden change in his mood.

"Dude," James paused to catch his breath. "You got to beat up by a girl!" He felt like he was in middle school again by saying so, but he couldn't help himself. He found the idea of his son getting beat up by a girl more amusing than it was intended to be.

"I'm not going to hit a girl, especially Effy!"

"Because you're _oh-so_ in love with her."

"All right, leave," Conor said. He got up from his bed. James was still amused by it. Conor was shoving him out of his bedroom. "Bye!" He closed the door and locked it when James was out the door and locked it. Still hearing his father laughing about it, he turned up his music and went back to what he was doing.

About 20 seconds later, James was knocking on Conor's door once again.

"What?" Conor yelled out. He turned down the music.

"You're not off the hook!" James yelled back through the door. "Two more weeks without your car!"

He slammed his fists accidentally on his laptop in rage. "_DAMN IT!_"

"Would you like to make it three?"


	17. Chapter 17: The Penas & Hendersons

"ANGST!" Gabi yelled. She slammed her Batman pen against her Batman notebook and pushed the two aside before putting her head down on the dining room table.

"Whoa there," Logan said as he was passing by. "You all right there, Gabi?"

"Didn't I just yell out 'angst?'" she asked, with her head still on the table.

"She's trying to write," Lisa said, "but writer's block is shooting her down." Lisa looked down at Gabi's "work station" and noticed the Batman notebook and pen. "You know, people would think she's married to you if they didn't already know we were married."

"She does have a good taste in comics." Logan shot her a thumbs up. "However, I would probably think that all of that belongs to Cole or Roy. They are the ones in school and are under the age of 7..."

"All right, leave!" Gabi yelled in response to Logan.

"Leaving," Logan said with his hands up in defense. He left the dining room and headed into the living room, where Carlos was.

Gabi finally picked her head off of the table and grabbed the notebook once more. This time, though, she simply closed it and put it back down. "This can wait." She turned to Lisa. "So you two are on good terms now?"

Lisa shrugged in response. "I'm assuming. It just kind of blew over. I don't think there's a need for us to really talk about it. We just kind of forgot about it." She thought she over reacted over the whole thing. It was something so minutia compared to everything else that was going on. Logan's ex-girlfriend was a human being, after all. Lisa just didn't like her, even if she'd never met her.

"So, have you spoken to Genny or Bri lately?"

"Bri, yes. Genny, no. I feel like she's being distant."

"Lisa," Gabi started. "It's Genny. There are times where she's distant with everyone. Just... please don't bother her about it. I'm sure she's just busy and has a lot on her mind. We don't need another fight breaking out."

* * *

Carlos and Logan were in the living room. The Xbox was on and the two were versing each other in the latest first-person shooter video game. The next thing you knew, Logan took a headshot at Carlos.

"Damn!" Carlos yelled and dropped his controlled. "You'd think by now we'd stop playing these games by now..."

"And you'd think we'd learn to play on the same team." Logan shook his head and laughed slightly. "Jeez, we're in our 40s and still playing these video games. If we weren't successful, people would think we're losers."

"I still think you're a loser."

* * *

A few days later.

Gabi was once again in the midst of writing another story, or at least trying to, when the doorbell rang. She was too engrossed in her pen and paper to notice. If she had lost her thoughts or got distracted at the moment, writer's block was going to come around and rip the pen and paper away from her.

Carlos answered the door was greeted by Logan, who wasn't exactly calm. The two of them made their way to the dining room, where Gabi was scribbling away and getting her thoughts down on paper before she forgot them.

"I have a dilemma," Logan said. He was hoping to talk to the both of them, but Gabi was still too engrossed in her writing to even say hello to him.

"Maybe we shouldn't bother her," Carlos said. "She is busy."

"Listen to Carlos, Logan," she said. She was still writing and didn't even bother to look up at the two.

"Nope," Logan said. That's when he raised his voice. "Gabi, I have a dilemma!"

"Jesus fucking Christ," Gabi said. She slapped her hand against her forehead and slammed the pen down against her notebook, aggravated that she was now unable to get her thoughts down. "You two are worse than writers block!"

Carlos let out a sigh. He hated distracting Gabi from her writing. "Sorry, love."

"Whatever, it's fine," she said with a shrug. She knew she was going to get dragged into whatever Logan wanted to talk about, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it. "What's up, Logan? What's your dilemma?"

Both Carlos and Logan took seats at the table across from Gabi before Logan responded. "Now Genny and Lisa aren't talking."

"What?" Carlos and Gabi said in astonishment at the same time, as if it were synchronized. Genny and Lisa were best friends, and the two were closer to each other than anyone else in the Schmidt-Henderson-Maslow-Pena wolfpack. "The world must be ending," Gabi said.

"What happened?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know." Logan said. "She said she felt as if Genny was being distant, but you know, it's Genny, so I don't her not to worry about it. Next thing you know, though, she called Genny, confronts her, the two get into an argument and now the two aren't speaking."

"Okay, wow," Gabi said. The whole story sounded a little too familiar to her. "Does no one listen to me?" Logan and Carlos turned to Gabi, unaware of what she was referring to. "I told her not to worry about it, too. Sigh." That was another thing about Gabi, she said "sigh" rather than actually sighing. "More drama added onto everything. Is it ever going to end? I could really go for some s'mores at their place, to be honest, but it wouldn't feel right without everyone there. Just..." She paused and took in a deep breath. "_Angst!_"


	18. Chapter 18: Everyone

_Author's note: I was originally going to make each of these individual chapters. I know it's a lot for one chapter, but if I went with my original plan, they'd all be really short, so I decided to make it one. Enjoy. :)_

* * *

The Maslows:

"Okay, you," James pointed pointed to Conor while throwing the Xbox controller in his hand to the ground. "You are asking for me to get rid of your car completely!" He looked back at the TV screen and his player respawned. He went to grab his controller off of the floor, but Conor was quick enough to take another headshot at his father's player. "Are you kidding?"

"Sorry, Dad," Conor replied. "Had to. More points for my team."

"I've been playing these games much longer than you've been alive, my son," James replied. "I should not be losing to a 16-year-old."

Bri was in the living room with James and Conor, alongside Jackie and Nick, witnessing everything that was going on between the two. Everything seemed perfect to her. Conor was still on lockdown and James still wasn't speaking to Kendall or Genny, but that didn't seem to matter at the moment.

That's when it hit her.

She didn't want this to end. She never wanted this to end. By ending things between her and James, this would all go away. She didn't even have a legitimate reason to end things, making her realize it was it idiotic to even think about it. She loved James more than anything and everything, and she loved her family. She didn't want to ruin what they all already had.

"No," she said, thinking out loud. Everyone turned in her direction. "I'm not having this taken away from me."

"Uh," Conor began to say. "Mom, are you okay?"

"James, just... No," Brianna continued. "The idea was stupid, forget I even brought it up."

"What are you talking about?" James asked.

"No divorce. Nope."

* * *

The Schmidts:

It was going on 3 in the morning. Genny was well aware that she had work the next day, but she couldn't fall asleep, even if she was tired. She let out a sigh and brough her palms up to her face.

"Why are you still awake?" Kendall asked. It startled her a bit, because she thought he was asleep. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," she replied, just to avoid getting into conversation.

"All right," Kendall said as he shifted to turn on the lamp on his night stand. "You're lying to me." He propped himself up on his elbows and turned a bit to face Genny. "What's up?"

"I can't sleep, that's all." She was still trying to avoid any conversation.

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you're still lying to me."

"I'm not lying, I actually really can't sleep," Genny said. She was telling the truth.

"But why?" he asked. "What are you harping on so much that's more important than sleep?

She was harping on anything and everything, really. There was so much unnecessary drama going on and she couldn't take it. It was bad enough when everything first broke out, but she hadn't even realized how much she was avoiding everyone until Lisa brought it up.

"Does everyone enjoy avoiding my questions or something?"

"No, sorry... Everything's just awkward. I don't get it. A few weeks ago, everyone got along and everything was perfect. Why isn't it like that anymore? Why now?"

"I'm sure everything will blow over soon, Gen," Kendall said. "It has to... Now, really, you should get some sleep."

The next morning.

Effy was in the kitchen, on her laptop. Both Genny and Kendall were now awake and entered the kitchen. "Ah, guess that's my queue to go to bed," Effy said. It was another night of staying up for no reason, and because she managed to screw up her sleeping pattern.

"You should stop staying up so late," Kendall said. "You do realize that you'll be back in school soon, right?"

"I am fully aware of that, Dad," Effy said. "Hence the summer homework cramming." She shot her parents a thumbs up. "Hey, speaking of school," she turned her attention towards Genny. "When did you study abroad, Mom?"

"When I was 19," Genny replied.

"Ah," Effy said. "Now I have to invent a time machine."

"Why?"

"So I can party with the 19 year old version of you." Effy snickered, laughed and closed her laptop. She was one to be quite sarcastic at times.

Genny turned to Effy almost instantly. "What?"

Kendall started laughing. "Solid!"

"Night, Mom!" Effy raced out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room.

With a dropped jaw, she turned to Kendall, who still found what his daughter said to be the funniest things he heard that morning. "What the _hell_ did you tell her?"

* * *

Lisa & Logan:

Lisa was sitting on the couch in the living room when she felt something hit her. She turned around and saw her phone lying behind her, and Logan standing within throwing distance. "Did you just throw my phone at me?"

"Possibly," Logan said. He meant no harm by throwing the phone. "It rang."

She checked the screen and there were no new notifications for a missed call or text message. "Logan, it didn't ring."

"Okay, maybe it didn't," he said with a shrug. "But... Now that you have your phone, maybe you can call or text Genny?"

"Is that why you threw my phone at me?" Lisa asked. "And why would I do that?"

"Because you're avoiding her for no reason. Why don't you talk to her?"

"Nope."

"Lisa, she is your best friend," Logan said with a frown. He didn't like the idea of anyone fighting, especially Genny and Lisa. It was only adding to the drama that was already going on between everyone.

"It's her fault for being distant," Lisa replied.

"Lisa, you've known Genny for how long?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. "Shouldn't you know that she can be distant with her friends at times. Maybe she's never been distant to you, but there's a first time for everything. There's a lot going on. I'm sure she's just busy and has a lot on her mind. And, I would like to go to Kendall and Genny's again soon. It is summer. Summer means s'mores."

"I'm sure she's busy and has a lot on her mind," Lisa said, repeating Logan in a mocking tone. "Summer means s'mores."

Giving up, Logan made his way upstairs. Genny was also one of his best friends, and he didn't want Lisa nagging at him to stop spending time with her. He knew Lisa could be stubborn at times, especially when it came to her friends, but he just wanted the drama to end.

* * *

Gabi & Carlos:

"Someone's birthday is coming up!" Gabi said with a smile. "What does one want for his birthday?"

"I don't want or need anything more, Gabi," Carlos replied. "I say this every year and every holiday."

"So, you want nothing?"

"Basically."

"I guess I'm getting you nothing," Gabi said. "Don't complain when you open an empty box on your birthday. You asked for it. I did it last year, I could do it again this year if I really wanted to."

He laughed, remembering opening an empty box nearly half of his height and being disappointed when he realized it was empty. He did tell Gabi he wanted nothing for his birthday the previous year, though, and that's exactly what she got him: nothing. However, Gabi did hide a watch he was eyeing for a while somewhere in the house and sent him on a scavenger hunt to find it. Who knew what this year would bring?"

"So, you don't want to do anything, either? Or do you?"

"I really wanted to have everyone over," Carlos said, but then his mood shifted. He frowned, knowing that probably wouldn't happen. "But considering everyone hates each other..." That's when Gabi reached for her phone. "What are you doing?"

"I am not letting all of this ruin your birthday," Gabi said, while scrolling through her phone book. "We already missed James' birthday because of this. We're not missing your's, too, or Effy's for that matter."

Gabi called Genny, Brianna and Lisa all separately, inviting them and their families over. She didn't tell them everyone would be coming over, because if she did, no one would show up. Her goal was to put an end to all of this drama, and she needed to reach that goal now.

* * *

_Author's note (again): There's only one chapter of this left. :( And possibly an epilogue. I have prequels planned out, though. Would you guys be interested in reading them? :)_


	19. Chapter 19: Everyone

Everyone was over at the Pena household. Anything and everything was full of awkward. No one was speaking and everyone refused to make eye contact with each other. The only ones who weren't phased by anything were the younger kids, who were all upstairs. Everyone heard them playing, but that was the only noise coming from anyone in the house. After about 20 minutes, Gabi stood up.

"All right," she began. "Is anyone going to speak, at all? I do not want to sit in complete silence for any longer." She was followed by silence.

"Okay, good to know you guys like to listen to my requests." She shook her head. "Just because I don't have any drama in all of this doesn't mean I'm not involved. Hell, I am very much involved! This needs to end. Now. Discuss, apologize, whatever."

Silence still followed, but when Gabi was about to kick everyone out for wasting her time, Conor and Effy spoke up. "I'm sorry!" they both said simultaneously. They turned to each other, surprised that they spoke at the same. Their eye contact was short and broken when Effy looked down, because she still refused to have anything to do with him. Everyone else turned to them.

"Guys," James said. "None of this is your fault."

"If I never left the ladder in sight, we wouldn't have gotten caught," Effy said.

"And if we'd never gotten into that stuff in the first place..." Conor said. He stood up. "It all started when that happened. We're-_I'm_ to blame."

"Conor, there's much more to it than what happened then," James said.

"I know, but still," Conor said. "I'm sorry for the sneaking out and risking everything. I'm tired of being on lockdown. It's _summer_! I'm sorry about the things I said about Genny." He turned to face her. "Really, I am. I was wrong to make accusations and you've always been the cool Aunt Genny I could run to when I needed help." Finally, he turned to Effy. "And you..." His voice trailed off. He wanted to continue, but couldn't. He felt his throat close up and he was unable to speak.

There were things he needed and wanted to say to Effy, but something was stopping him from doing so. Maybe it was because they were in front of a lot of people and he was never okay with opening up to people. Choking up, he walked out of the living room. Though she was unsure if she should or shouldn't, Effy got up and went after him.

Everyone else remaining in the living room all looked around at each other. Everyone had something to say, but no one was standing up to do so. Finally, Logan said something.

"How about we put this all behind us?" he said. "No more fighting, no more picking fights and no more dragging anyone into anyone else's problems. Let's just get back to the way things were before."

"Let's," James replied.

"Hold on," Lisa said. "Let me just say sorry for being stubborn and a bitch."

"And I'm sorry for being distant, and for Tyler's existence," Genny said. Everyone laughed. Everyone was against all things Tyler related.

"Okay," James said. "My turn, I guess. Sorry, Kendall, for not telling you about what happened with Genny. And Genny... I'm sorry you were too piss drunk to remember." Everyone was now laughing at James' comment.

"Can we not with that?" Genny asked while face-palming.

Kendall, while still laughing, spoke up. "Genny, it's fine. I'm pretty sure we've all done stupid things, while drunk... and sober." He turned his attention to James. "It's cool. Totally understandable as to why you didn't say anything-as long as it doesn't happen again."

James raised his hands up in defense. "It won't. Genny, I love you and you're an awesome friend, but I'm happily married and shouldn't be hooking up with anyone else."

Gabi turned towards James and Brianna. "So wait, no more divorce?"

They both shook their heads. "Nope," Brianna said with a smile. "It was a dumb idea to begin with."

"Ah," Logan said. "Great to know we're all on good terms. So, anyone else craving something sweet? Like... Hey! Do you guys have cheesecake?"

"_Wrong house_!" Gabi yelled.

"Oh, right, cream cheese..." Logan's voice trailed off, but started laughing, still finding Gabi's reasoning for not liking cheesecake funny. "What about s'mores?"

"Again, wrong house," Gabi continued. "But I'm sure we have 'mallows, chocolate and graham crackers. I don't think we should jump right to s'mores, though. You guys down for nachos? I know how much you love my nachos."

"Please! I can go to some Gabi Lopez-Pena nachos!" Genny said.

"I'll go get everyone!" Lisa called out as she made her way upstairs to get the younger kids.

* * *

Effy stood in front of Conor, who still hasn't said anything. "Conor, say something," she asked. "Please. Don't go mute on me, please."

"You went mute on me, though," Conor said.

"That was a long time ago, Conor," she said. Again, there Conor wasn't saying anything. Effy sighed, wishing she knew what he wanted to tell her. There was something she wanted to tell him, too, but if he wasn't opening up to her, she thought there was no point in her opening up. "Whatever. Your dad's calling everyone into the living room and Gabi's in the kitchen. That means nachos, and you can not say no to Gabi's nachos. If you're not going to talk to me, fine." She turned to head into the living room, only to be stopped when Conor grabbed her hand.

He pulled her close to her him and pressed his lips against hers. She relaxed into his arms as she kissed him back. Finally, he pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"There," he said. "I did it. Now you know what I wanted to tell you." He rested his forehead against hers, feeling accomplished. The two stood in silence for a few seconds. "I'm glad you're talking again, Effy. And like I sad before, I am really sorry for what I said."

"I'm glad I am, too," she said with a smile. "I missed talking to you, and it's fine. You were upset, I get it. Now hey, come on, food." She pulled away from his embrace and took his hand, leading him into the kitchen where Gabi and Genny had already started getting things together for s'mores and nachos.

Everyone knew it would take a while for everything to get back on its normal schedules. Grudges would still be held, but would soon be forgotten about. Some were quick to forgive, others weren't. Everything that went down was still fresh in everyone's minds and who knew when they would officially put everything behind them? However, that didn't change the fact that everyone was together now, at the Pena house. Gabi's famous nachos were being made and s'mores would be happening later that night. Laughs were happening and stories were being told. Everyone was together, and that was something: it was a start.

* * *

_Author's note: There will be an epilogue. :) And the first of the prequels should be posted soon!_


	20. Epilogue

Everyone was over at the Schmidts' house, along with Dylan as his family, as well as a bunch of Conor and Effy's friends. Music was blasting, people were spilling out of the house and into the front lawn and backyard, food was being served in the living room, as well as the grill in the backyard.

Effy, while giving Dakota a piggyback ride, was running through the house with her graduation cap on. She ran out through the back door. Cole and Roy weren't too far behind, chasing Effy and Dakota.

"Man," Gab said while turning to Lisa. "How are the kids going to react when Effy leaves for college? Where's she going again?"

"USC," Genny said from behind the two. They turned and saw her carrying the cake that read "Congrats Conor and Effy!" "She's studying music business," she said with a proud smile.

"Ah, taking after you, I see," Lisa said. "It's funny. Conor's taking over James, Effy's taking after you... Conor leaves for his first headlining tour ever soon! It may not be arenas, but the thought of it is awesome. I actually can't wait until he's playing arenas. James has his fangirls, and so does he. Like father, like son."

"But you can't forget," Gabi started. "Bri is their biggest fangirl."

The three of them made their way outside, where all the guys and Brianna were. When Brianna saw them approaching, she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you!" she said while throwing her hands in the air. She was sitting at the table outside with the guys. "I can not take all four of these guys alone!"

"Where'd Dylan and Ashley go?" Genny asked, noticing that the two were missing from the scene. "And where's Conor?"

"They went to grab more drinks, of course," Kendall said. "There's nothing new about that. And Conor... should be wherever the drinks aren't." He started laughing as he remembered what went down with Conor and Effy just two years before. Everyone joined in, remembering all of the pointless drama that went down after that.

"So glad we're over that," Carlos said while shaking his head. "Speaking of Conor, there he is." Everyone turned and saw him climbing out of the pool after being pushed in by his siblings, alongside Cameron, Nathan and Damien. Instead of plotting his revenge, he made his way towards Effy. "Good to know they're still together."

"Uh," Logan started. He was looking at Conor and Effy, and something didn't seem right. "They're pointing towards us."

Everyone's attention was turned to the couple. They were grabbing water guns.

"This can't be good," James said.

The two made their way over to their parents and their friends, with the water guns in hand. "You guys should go swimming! It's so nice out," Effy said. "And it is a party, you know."

Everyone started stating their reasons why they wouldn't. There was the "not feeling like changing" and "not having a change of clothes." There was also the simple, "I don't want to go swimming with a bunch of teenagers."

"It's so hot though," Conor said. "You guys deserve to cool off a bit!" Both Effy and Conor pulled out the water guns from behind them, first aiming at both of their parents. That's when the screaming and yelling started.

Everyone fled from the scene, leaving all electronics behind, to avoid being within the water guns' range. Genny, Kendall, James and Brianna were already soaked, their two oldest kids not caring that they were fully clothed. Jame's goal, however, was to get back at his son, who was in the midst of getting Carlos and Gabi. When he least expected it, James ran after Conor and grabbed him.

Failing to get out of his father's grip, Conor was thrown into the pool. However, that got the best of James when Conor grabbed his shirt and was pulled into the pool with him. Kendall was pushed in afterwards, as Nathan and Cameron weren't too far behind him.

"What the hell is going on?" Logan yelled, who was shielding Lisa from any possibility of getting his by Effy's water gun. "Effy, go aim at your mom!" Not listening, Effy soaked them both. The two retaliated by grabbing her and throwing her into the pool.

At the end of it all, everyone was in the pool after being pushed in by their kids. Still all fully clothes, they all laughed, realizing Effy and Conor's high school graduation party turned into a full blown war over not wanting to go swimming. Effy and Conor planned out the whole thing with the younger kids, and they met much success.

"Something is wrong with this family," Carlos said while shaking his head.

"I agreed." Logan nodded in agreement. "But I love it, and I wouldn't change it for the world."

* * *

_Authur's Note: Finn! :) I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Thanks for all the reviews and all of the usual, cliche story-ending author's note. Shout-out to Bri, Lisa and Gabi for letting me stick them in this story. _

_Oh, and there are prequels to this. WOOHOO! The first one, Heart Vacancy, is already up. :) _


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